Air NZ pilot redundancies

[QUOTE=Lapon;10746314]Correct, but thats how the agreement is written.

Irrespective of what is written into the agreement, I'm not sure there is enough goodwill among the taxpaying public at large, many of whom a doing it very hard right now, to subsidise a lifestyle to which a senior WB pilot has come to expect.

25 years you say? That technology has been avaliable for decades, it's the appetite for it that has and will lack.

Spoken like a flight engineer. The first tests of auto take off at Airbus were in 2020, it’s downhill from here. Every facet of transportation is getting automated. Line haul automated trucks are less than a decade away. The cost savings of halving your pilot numbers are huge. The whole idea that airlines will want to hold onto pilots is much like the idea they wanted to hold onto flight engineers. Ain’t going to happen, watch the current fight in the trucking industry if you want to know how this will all play out.

25 years you say? That technology has been avaliable for decades, it's the appetite for it that has and will lack.

Spoken like a flight engineer. The first tests of auto take off at Airbus were in 2020, it’s downhill from here. Every facet of transportation is getting automated. Line haul automated trucks are less than a decade away. The cost savings of halving your pilot numbers are huge. The whole idea that airlines will want to hold onto pilots is much like the idea they wanted to hold onto flight engineers. Ain’t going to happen, watch the current fight in the trucking industry if you want to know how this will all play out. Apologies for thread drift.

Should the business burn all their cash and require full Govt rescuing/ownership then the public sentiment will exert a lot more influence.

If the company was to collapse it is all academic anyway, the best they can do for now is negotiate some variations with the pilot group. I dont think for a second the company will merely be able to put the entire problem in the too hard or too expensive basket and just do as they please.

The first tests of auto take off at Airbus were in 2020, it’s downhill from here. Every facet of transportation is getting automated. Line haul automated trucks are less than a decade away. The cost savings of halving your pilot numbers are huge...

The easiest form of transport to automate is trains. How many driver-less trains with passengers operate in Australia, or the US or Europe? Next easiest is shipping. Heck they already "need" pilots to bring them into harbour after the ocean crossing. When I see mostly driverless trains and a few automatic ships, then I will know that single pilot aircraft are coming, because if you NEED one pilot then you NEED a second one just in case. By the way, crew costs are between 10-15% of aircraft running cost. That is ALL crew. maybe the cabin crew will be first to go? No cabin attendants on trains or buses. Find your own exit.

Politically unacceptable with the Government owning 52% of the airline.

I think there will be a debate soon about how long Air New Zealand should be kept on life support. As an airline it has only ever existed courtesy of protectionist policies (until Richard Prebble deregulated the industry) and taxpayer funding, It has been baled out twice now in the last twenty years. Most of the people I know who have traveled to Britain and Europe in the last five years have cast the often referred to 'pride' and 'sentiment' in our national carrier aside and opted for better and cheaper options travelling west with one of the Asian or Middle Eastern carriers.

OPINION: Qantas and Air New Zealand are setting very different paths. Time will tell who was right.

Perhaps legislation differences and liquidity have allowed QF to kick the can down the road to wait and see how the dust settles first, before making structural decisions. The paths taken may well turn out to be very similar.

Spoken like a flight engineer. The first tests of auto take off at Airbus were in 2020, it’s downhill from here. Every facet of transportation is getting automated. Line haul automated trucks are less than a decade away. The cost savings of halving your pilot numbers are huge. The whole idea that airlines will want to hold onto pilots is much like the idea they wanted to hold onto flight engineers. Ain’t going to happen, watch the current fight in the trucking industry if you want to know how this will all play out. Apologies for thread drift.

The truck thing exists, but authorities won't let it happen without bodies in the cab. Scania has a system were up to 10 truck and trailer units are connected via some network. Truck one drives and the others follow, literally a few meters apart. Travelling in a convoy of 10 saves 10% fuel per truck, so 10 trucks and one practically goes for free. They are allowed to operate the system on German Autobahns, but only at night.

Local media are talking up a Trans-Tasman travel bubble, watch this space

Would be nice, but Jacinda shut the idea down today and said borders will be closed indefinitely to non-residents or who aren’t citizens. She also stated herself and Morrison haven’t talked or aren’t considering the idea at the moment.